The best routing API depends on what you are building. A logistics platform routing thousands of trucks has different needs than a hiking app plotting a walking route. Rather than name a single winner, this page walks through what to evaluate when comparing routing APIs, describes what the Stadia Maps Routing API offers, and links to Stadia Maps' own published comparisons for context.

Key Takeaways

  • No single routing API is "best" for every use case. The right choice depends on data sources, feature coverage, pricing model, storage rights, and privacy posture.
  • The Stadia Maps Routing API covers turn-by-turn directions, matrix, isochrones, optimized routing, map matching, road information, and traffic-influenced routing under one unified credit-based pricing model.
  • Stadia Maps' routing is built on Valhalla, an open-source routing engine Stadia Maps contributes to.
  • Traffic-Influenced Routing adds live and predictive traffic data from TomTom (600M+ connected devices) on top of the same API.
  • Ferrostar, Stadia Maps' navigation SDK, is a BSD-licensed, cross-platform (iOS, Android, PWA) SDK with a Rust core.

What Makes a Routing API "Best"?

Six evaluation dimensions matter for most developer teams:

  • Data sources. Where the road network, speed limits, and place names come from. OpenStreetMap-based vendors have community-updated data and open licensing. Proprietary vendors have more control over data curation but limited transparency into updates.
  • Feature coverage. Does the API include the core primitives you need: turn-by-turn directions, travel time matrix, isochrones, route optimization, map matching, road attributes, elevation, traffic-influenced ETAs?
  • Pricing model. Is billing usage-based (per-request or per-credit) or MAU-based (per active user)? MAU pricing penalizes growth; usage-based pricing scales with actual API calls. Stadia Maps' post The Invisible Costs of Routing walks through this trade-off in detail.
  • Storage rights. Can you cache and persist routing results in your database? Some vendors restrict long-term storage or charge multiples of the request price for it.
  • Developer experience. Availability of SDKs, quality of documentation, code examples, and support. Stadia Maps ships official SDKs for TypeScript, Python, Kotlin, Swift, and PHP, plus platform-specific navigation and search SDKs.
  • Privacy posture. Does the vendor track end users, require SDK telemetry, or sell data? For regulated industries (healthcare, finance, government), this can be a hard requirement rather than a preference.

What Does the Stadia Maps Routing API Offer?

The Stadia Maps Routing API provides the following primitives, all served from one API and billed from one unified credit pool:

  • Turn-by-Turn Directions. Reliable routing with precise turn-by-turn guidance, distance, and travel time calculations. Available for driving, walking, cycling, bus, taxi, truck, and more. 20 credits per request.
  • Optimized Routing. Ordered stops for multi-point routing (a TSP-style problem). 40 credits per request.
  • Time/Distance Matrix. Rapid calculation of travel times and distances between many origins and destinations. 10 credits per element. 625-element limit on the Standard plan; 10,000-element limit on Professional.
  • Isochrones. Reachable areas from a point within a set time or distance. 20 credits per request. See the companion What Is an Isochrone? page for a deeper walkthrough.
  • Map Matching. Snap a GPS trace to the road network. 20 credits per request.
  • Road Information. Nearest street, speed limits, grades, surface quality, and other road attributes. 20 credits per request.
  • Elevation. Elevation at a point or along a route. 5 credits per request.
  • Traffic-Influenced Routing. Live and predictive traffic on top of the same routing endpoints, powered by TomTom's data from 600 million connected devices. 60 credits per request for adaptive traffic; 120 credits for premium.

For mobile apps, Ferrostar adds real-time navigation with turn-by-turn guidance, powered by the same routing and road information endpoints. Ferrostar is cross-platform (Android, iOS, PWA), uses a Rust core for memory safety and performance, and is BSD-licensed open source.

How Does Stadia Maps Routing Compare?

Stadia Maps has published several posts that explain how its approach differs from the routing status quo. Each is grounded in a specific technical or business trade-off, not marketing framing.

For direct vendor-by-vendor migration comparisons, Stadia Maps maintains dedicated switch pages: Switch from Google, Switch from Mapbox, and Switch from MapTiler. Those pages are the authoritative source for pricing and feature comparisons across those specific vendors.

What Are the Major Routing API Options?

The mainstream commercial routing APIs available to developers include Google Maps Platform, Mapbox, HERE Technologies, TomTom, and Stadia Maps. Each has a different data foundation and product focus. Beyond the commercial options, Valhalla (which Stadia Maps contributes to) is a leading open-source routing engine that can be self-hosted.

Because vendor pricing and features change frequently, the most reliable way to compare specifics is to check each vendor's own pricing and API reference pages at the time you evaluate. Stadia Maps' Switch pages linked in the previous section are the current, maintained source for detailed pairwise comparisons.

Which Routing API Is Best for Your Use Case?

Different applications have different constraints. Here is how the Stadia Maps Routing API fits several common use cases, based on the product pages and blog posts linked above:

  • Logistics and last-mile delivery. Traffic-Influenced Routing plus Matrix Routing plus Optimized Routing cover fleet ETAs, service-area analysis, and multi-stop planning. Persistent storage of routing and geocoding results is allowed on Standard, Professional, and Enterprise plans.
  • Multi-modal mobility (trucks, e-bikes, LSVs, transit). Valhalla-backed routing supports per-mode costing models. The Beyond the Car blog post covers this in depth.
  • Consumer navigation apps. Ferrostar provides a cross-platform navigation SDK for Android, iOS, and PWAs, with a Rust core and BSD-licensed open source code.
  • Regulated industries (healthcare, finance, government). Stadia Maps' privacy posture (no end-user tracking, no SDK telemetry, no data resale) and EU-only endpoints make it a fit where compliance and data residency matter.
  • Teams with unpredictable growth. Credit-based pricing avoids MAU billing shock. The pricing page has fixed credit pools per plan and opt-in overages.
  • On-premises or embedded deployments. Stadia Maps offers On-Prem and Embedded Solutions for teams that need to run the stack in their own environment.

What Are Common Routing API Pricing Models?

Routing APIs typically bill in one of three ways:

  • Per-request or per-credit. Every API call has a fixed cost. Growth in usage scales linearly with billing. Stadia Maps uses this model with a unified credit pool.
  • Per monthly active user (MAU). Billing scales with the number of end users, not API calls. Popular in navigation SDKs. Discussed in The Invisible Costs of Routing.
  • Enterprise contract. Custom pricing negotiated for high-volume or on-premises deployments.

For teams doing a real cost comparison, Stadia Maps' pricing page has the full credit schedule per feature, and the switch pages for Google, Mapbox, and MapTiler include pairwise cost breakdowns.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a routing API?

A routing API is an HTTP service that returns turn-by-turn directions, travel time estimates, and route geometry between two or more geographic points. Modern routing APIs typically also support travel time matrices between many origins and destinations, isochrones (reachable areas), route optimization for multiple stops, map matching for GPS traces, and traffic-influenced ETAs.

What should you evaluate when choosing a routing API?

The main dimensions to evaluate are: data sources (OpenStreetMap versus proprietary), feature coverage (routing, matrix, isochrones, optimization, map matching, traffic), pricing model (usage-based versus MAU-based), storage rights, developer experience (SDKs, docs, support), and privacy posture.

Which routing API is best for privacy-conscious apps?

Stadia Maps does not track end users, does not require SDK telemetry, and does not sell data to advertisers. The Stadia Maps blog post The Invisible Costs of Routing walks through how MAU-based pricing and SDK telemetry work at other vendors and why the Stadia Maps usage-based model is different. EU-only endpoints are also available for teams with data-residency requirements.

Can I self-host a routing engine?

Yes. Valhalla is an open-source routing engine you can self-host. Stadia Maps contributes to Valhalla and offers on-premises and embedded deployment options for teams that need to run the stack in their own environment.

How much does Stadia Maps routing cost?

Stadia Maps uses a unified credit pool. Standard routing, map matching, nearest roads, trace attributes, and isochrones cost 20 credits per request. Optimized routing costs 40 credits per request. Time/distance matrix is 10 credits per element. Traffic-influenced profiles are 60 or 120 credits per request depending on tier. Plans start free with 200,000 credits per month and scale to Professional at $250 per month for 25 million credits.

What is the difference between a routing API and a navigation SDK?

A routing API returns route data (geometry, distance, ETA, turn-by-turn instructions) over HTTP. A navigation SDK is a client-side library that consumes route data and drives an interactive navigation experience, including live location tracking, off-route detection, rerouting, and turn-by-turn guidance. Stadia Maps ships both: the Routing API for the data, and Ferrostar for the client-side navigation experience.

Where to Go Next

From the Blog

More on routing and navigation from the Stadia Maps blog:

Routing & Navigation